Ogiwara and Ramadhipa win as Rookies Cup title battle remains tight

2026 Red Bull Rookies Cup

Round Five – Sachsenring

The 2026 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup title battle was wide open at the Sachsenring, with Ryota Ogiwara and Kiandra Ramadhipa taking race wins, while championship leader Benat Fernandez left Germany empty-handed.

Fernandez arrived at the liqui moly German Grand Prix round with a 42-point buffer after a strong Assen weekend had put him back in control. After two races, that advantage dropped to 17 points.

Ogiwara did the damage on Saturday, charging from 12th on the revised race one grid to claim his third victory of the season, while Fernandez dropped out of the lead group. On Sunday, Fernandez fell again in an incident that raised a red flag, while Ogiwara was already out of the race.

It gave Ramadhipa an impressive second win of the season in Sunday’s short race, moving the 16-year-old Indonesian up to third in the standings with four races remaining.

The Sachsenring’s 3.671 km tight layout, altitude changes and a long succession of left-handers again created fair chaos in the Rookies Cup, with track conditions, tire management and late-race nerves every bit as important as outright speed.

Ability

Finn Kratochvil gave the home crowd something to cheer about on Friday, with the 15-year-old German winning his first Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup pole with a 1m28.217.

It was a tough session at the front. Kiatisak Singhapong was only 0.021 seconds slower, while Ramadhipa was only 0.033 seconds slower than pole in third place. Carlos Cano was fourth, Benat Fernandez fifth and Travis Borg sixth, while the top 13 riders were covered by less than eight-tenths.

Kratochvil’s lap was not only good enough for pole, but it also compared favorably to Sachsenring race-lap benchmarks. This was faster than Kiandra Ramadhipa’s 2025 best lap of 1m28.739, although still behind Yaroslav Karpushkin’s all-time mark of 1m28.016.

Ramadhipa showed her Sachsenring form early in the day and topped the free practice with 1m29.529. He was also comfortable with the layout, later noting that he enjoyed the character of the circuit’s long left-hander.

The race one grid was then reshaped by penalties. Singpong, Cano, Sullivan Mounsey and Cristian Borelli were sent to the back of the grid for slow riding in qualifying, while David da Costa was given a long-lap penalty. Those penalties did not apply to race two, where the original qualifying order was restored.

race one

Saturday’s opening race was held in hot conditions with a track temperature of 40 degrees, and it soon turned into typical Sachsenring Rookies Cup controversy.

Ramadhipa led the opening two laps, before Ogiwara, who had started 12th on the revised grid, took the lead by lap three. David Gonzalez then took a turn at the front, before the order continued to shuffle as the front group traded passes through the flowing midfield and down the hill.

The key moment of the championship came on the eighth lap, when Fernandez spun out of the mid-pack battle. He briefly rejoined, but was shown a black flag with an orange disc and then returned to the pits. After the championship leader was out, Ogiwara suddenly had a great opportunity to gain points.

He took full advantage of it. After falling back to sixth place at mid-distance, the 17-year-old Japanese came back into contention in the final laps and crossed the line to the flag by lap 15.

Gonzalez pushed him hard to the end, closing out the final lap, but Ogiwara held on in the final section and won by 0.142 seconds. Singpong, who had started from the back after the penalty, moved up to third, just 0.427 seconds away from victory. Kratochvil was fourth, remaining in podium contention until the last corners, while Ramadhip completed the top five.

The numbers showed how close it was. The top eight were covered in less than a second, and the top ten in just over two seconds. Despite suffering a long-lap penalty, da Costa set the fastest lap of the race, 1m28.748, and still finished seventh.

This was an important victory for Ogiwara. He arrived at the Sachsenring 42 points behind Fernandez. By Saturday evening this difference came down to 17.

Ryota Ogiwara

“To be honest, before the race, I was thinking ‘This is going to be tough.’

david gonzalez

“The race was tough. I started P11. I struggled on the leading positions. Then I lost a few places, in the end, it was madness. On the last lap, I passed the Finn for second place. I pushed very hard to catch Ogiwara, going down the hill on the last lap, I was close, but not close enough to make an attempt on the last corner.”

Kiatisak Singhapong

“With the grid penalty, I had to come from the back. I was careful, I didn’t want to use the back tyre. I just started to push in the second half, and I pushed very hard in the last two laps. Tomorrow should be a little easier, starting from the front row. I’ll stay calm, keep control and see what I can do.”

Red Bull Rookies Results – Sachsenring Race One

Situation	rider	Bike	time/interval
1	R Ogiwara	ktm	28’24.653
2	de gonzalez	ktm	+0.142
3	K Singhapong	ktm	+0.427
4	F Kratochvil	ktm	+0.537
5	K Ramdhipa	ktm	+0.673
6	y karpushin	ktm	+0.707
7	de da costa	ktm	+0.922
8	sea ​​canoe	ktm	+0.971
9	F Bujosa	ktm	+2.112
10	t borg	ktm	+2.187
11	M Marulanda	ktm	+9.100
12	g pugliese	ktm	+9.131
13	a daqigan	ktm	+23.338
14	e sparks	ktm	+23.434
15	jay van krugten	ktm	+23.647
16	C. Borelli	ktm	+23.731
17	A. Schmidt	ktm	+23.786
18	an alameda	ktm	+47.637
not graded
nc	B Fernandez	ktm	+10 laps
nc	t class	ktm	+11 laps
nc	k daniels	ktm	+15 laps
nc	S. Mounsey	ktm	+17 laps
nc	‘s teens	ktm	+17 laps
nc	L’Agostinelli	ktm	+18 laps
dnf	G Planks	ktm	dnf

race two

Sunday’s second race was scheduled for 19 laps, but it was stopped with red flags after incidents involving Fernando Bujosa and Fernandez. The official result was declared after 14 laps.

Ramadhipa was a worthy winner. He crossed the line first in 11 of the 14 laps that counted for the result, and finished second in the other three. González was the only other rider to lead across the stripe, but red flag timing left him seventh in the final classification despite being a genuine victory contender.

Ramadhipa’s ride was particularly impressive because it was not just a matter of straight-line speed. The Indonesian was last on the top-speed sheets for race two at 196.3 km/h, while many rivals were above 200 km/h. The gap was made up through commitment, positioning and the KTM’s sequence of stopping, turning and exiting the left-hand turn of the Sachsenring.

Yaroslav Karpushin finished second, 0.230 seconds behind Ramadhipa, while Kratochvil gave the home fans a podium in third place, 0.327 seconds behind victory. Cristian Daniel was fourth, Guillem Planc was fifth, Cano was sixth and Gonzalez was seventh.

The front pack was again very stiff. The top 11 were covered in just 1.125 seconds, and seven riders were still within eight-tenths of the victory after the red flag countdown.

Ogiwara had already crashed without injury, which meant he could not fully take advantage of Fernandez’s second non-score of the weekend. Bujosa and Fernandez fell in the incident which caused a stoppage, with Bujosa recorded as rider OK and Fernandez taken to the medical center. Both escaped serious injury.

Despite finishing 12th, Tibor Varga set the fastest lap of the race with a 1m28.978 on lap nine, another indicator of how much track conditions matter in Sunday’s brief battle.

Kiandra Ramdhipa

“I tried to go from the start. I just said to myself, if someone overtakes me, I have to catch them back. Of course, I wasn’t expecting a red flag, but being ahead worked. We changed the suspension a bit from yesterday, and I think that helped the tyres. I’ve missed this winning feeling.”

Yaroslav Karpushin

“This year it’s not easy, but I think I’ve taken a step. Here, I had more confidence in practice and in the race. In my opinion, in Race 1, I was doing quite well, but I didn’t have the last step to get into a position to win. I would say I’m happy, but after the red flag, I’m hoping everyone is OK.”

Finn Kratochvil

“I was sitting in P2, P3 all the time, and was feeling very comfortable while saving tyres. Fighting a lot, but looking forward to the last laps. In the end, maybe I was lucky with the red flag timing; yesterday, I was unlucky and missed the podium. Pole and good race yesterday – a great weekend.”

Christian Daniels Jr.

“I made some mistakes in the race, but didn’t crash. My pace was really good all weekend. Yesterday was very bad. In second, I felt very strong. I think it was a little lack of concentration. Today, I was focused the whole race. I had to fight twice and felt strong for the finish.”

Schmidt’s Sachsenring Weekend

Australian rookie Archie Schmidt had a tough weekend. He qualified 25th, but a grid penalty dropped him to 21st for race one. From there he finished 17th, just outside the points.

There was at least some useful speed hidden in the numbers for Schmidt with a best lap of 1m29.855.

Race two ended early. Schmidt crashed, rejoined, was black flagged, then went to the pits.

Red Bull Rookies Results – Sachsenring Race Two

Situation	rider	Bike	time/interval
1	K Ramdhipa	ktm	20m57.770
2	y karpushin	ktm	+0.230
3	F Kratochvil	ktm	+0.327
4	k daniels	ktm	+0.426
5	G Planks	ktm	+0.554
6	sea ​​canoe	ktm	+0.719
7	de gonzalez	ktm	+0.772
8	de da costa	ktm	+0.793
9	S. Mounsey	ktm	+0.995
10	e sparks	ktm	+1.003
11	K Singhapong	ktm	+1.125
12	t class	ktm	+2.815
13	g pugliese	ktm	+2.957
14	‘s teens	ktm	+3.111
15	a daqigan	ktm	+1 lap
16	an alameda	ktm	+1 lap
17	C. Borelli	ktm	+1 lap
18	jay van krugten	ktm	+1 lap
not graded
nc	F Bujosa	ktm	+1 lap
nc	B Fernandez	ktm	+1 lap
nc	t borg	ktm	+3 laps
nc	M Marulanda	ktm	+9 laps
nc	R Ogiwara	ktm	+9 laps
East	A. Schmidt	ktm	left out

championship

Fernandez still leads the 2026 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, but the Sachsenring has reshaped the title fight.

The Spaniard remains on 148 points after his double no-score, while Ogiwara’s race one win took him to 131. Ramadhipa’s fifth on Saturday and victory on Sunday took him to 101 points and third overall, ahead of Bujosa on 97 and Gonzalez on 96.

With four races remaining and 100 points still available, the Cup is still very much alive. Fernandez has been the benchmark season-long, but the Sachsenring round proved how quickly a comfortable-looking advantage in the Rookies Cup can be eroded.

Red Bull Rookies Cup points

Situation	rider	Nation	score
1	B Fernandez	esp	148
2	R Ogiwara	jpn	131
3	K Ramdhipa	idn	101
4	F Bujosa	ESP	97
5	de gonzalez	ESP	95
6	K Singhapong	Was	90
7	F Kratochvil	Jar	85
8	k daniels	usa	74
9	sea ​​canoe	ESP	73
10	y karpushin	KGZ	68
11	t borg	MLT	68
12	S. Mounsey	GBR	61
13	G Planks	FRA	59
14	M Marulanda	colonel	46
15	g pugliese	ita	46
16	de da costa	FRA	40
17	‘s teens	venture	29
18	e sparks	GBR	28
19	a daqigan	PHI	16
20	L’Agostinelli	VIE	12
21	C. Borelli	ita	11
22	t class	Hun	10
23	jay van krugten	ned	6
24	A. Schmidt	Australia	3
25	an alameda	knuckles	2
26	A Fernandez	esp	1